


Worthy

by IvoryRaven



Series: Works In Progress [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Confused Harry, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, Duelling, Head Boy Tom Riddle, M/M, Teenage Tom Riddle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28765197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IvoryRaven/pseuds/IvoryRaven
Summary: Duelling a worthy opponent makes Tom hard.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Series: Works In Progress [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111985
Comments: 24
Kudos: 169





	1. Duel

**Author's Note:**

> From a CoS discord prompt.

“May I?” asked a Gryffindor boy with messy black hair, approaching Tom with wand in hand.

“All right,” said Tom. “You’re Harry Potter, aren’t you?”

The Gryffindor nodded. “Yeah. We have Defense together.”

Now that he mentioned it, Tom did remember seeing the well-built Gryffindor in lessons, off to the side, working with his Gryffindor friends. Tom himself usually kept to his circle of associates. Probably another overly brave Gryffindor who’d heard Tom Riddle, the Head Boy and top of the Defense class himself, was an active member of the Dueling Club, and hoped to challenge him.

Fat chance. Tom had never lost a duel.

He led Harry to an open space and held out his own wand. They stepped back, bowed to each other as was customary, and began.

Tom started with a simple Expelliarmus to test the waters. Harry batted it away like it was nothing. Tom felt a smile tugging at the edge of his lip. Time for the real spells.

He sent a moderately strong tripping hex, which Harry blocked with a glowing shield. An advanced shield, one that not all Tom’s associates had mastered yet, and it was cast perfectly.

Harry fired back immediately with a Jelly-Legs Jinx. Tom blocked it with the same shield Harry had used, feeling himself stiffen. Or rather, a certain part of his anatomy stiffened. Damn. Of all times to have _that_ physiological reaction.

Harry fired two more blurs of light. Tom reversed their course and send a third for good measure, groin throbbing all the while. Merlin, Harry was good. So good. 

Tom sent a few hexes towards Harry, which the Gryffindor dodged. Fast. Had Tom ever dueled anyone else this fast, this skilled? He didn’t think so. Merlin. His nerve endings tingled. Tom bit his lip, looking at Harry from half-concealed eyes.

The Gryffindor looked back at him, bright emerald eyes shining from a face twisted in curiosity. 

“Expelliarmus,” Tom muttered. Harry was distracted. A distracted person didn’t have a fast enough reaction time. He waited for the clatter of Harry’s wand falling to the floor.

And then there was a string around the edge of Tom’s wand, and it had been tugged out of his hand.

Tom took a step back in shock. Harry had beaten him. 

_Harry_ had beaten him. 

Harry had _beaten_ him. 

Harry had beaten _him._

Tom opened his mouth and then closed it again.

What had Harry done to him?

The Gryffindor’s dueling was just so good…

Tom swallowed thickly. 

Surely it was a one-time occurrence. Tom didn’t lose. He never lost. Especially not to unremarkable Gryffindor boys with such shiny green eyes and muscled arms and -

Damn it, thinking about Harry Potter wasn’t doing anything to reduce his condition, rather the opposite, to be honest. 

Tom resolved that at the next Dueling Club meeting, he would demand a rematch. Harry Potter wouldn’t beat him more than once. And he would prove to himself that he was in control of _all_ his organs.


	2. Ask

Harry Potter was pretty pleased with himself. His first duel with the Duelling Club and he’d won! The Head Boy was a good opponent. Harry remembered Hermione ranting about Tom’s continual position just above her at the top of the class rankings. She had tried time and time again to be top of every class, but Defense was one where a certain amount of technical skill was necessary. Not that Hermione wasn’t skilled - she was, incredibly so, but Tom had an edge on her. So did Harry, for that matter, but he was shit at essays and actual explanations, and that knocked his marks down a fair bit.

Essays. Not like a magical creatures was going to sit him down and demand an essay instead of a battle.

Actually, sphinxes might…

Oh well. He’d just have to avoid wherever sphinxes lived. Egypt, probably.

“So?” asked Hermione when he got back to the common room. “How was it?”

“It was good,” said Harry. “I duelled.”

“Told you you’d like it,” said Hermione, a self-satisfied smile spreading across her face. “Better than being bored in here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “Thanks for telling me about it.”

“You and Ron both,” said Hermione, “you’re ridiculous, the two of you - no Hermione I don’t like extracurricular activities if it’s not Quidditch - and I bet neither of you would’ve tried out if Ron’s brothers hadn’t done it! Absurd, I say. I said you’d like it. And Ron, see? Harry liked the thing I advised him-”

“Forced me,” interrupted Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Advised him to do. You’ll enjoy Chess Club, really. Just try it.”

“But I’ve got Quidditch,” said Ron. “What if there’s a practice?”

“I mean, I’m the team captain,” said Harry. “I won’t make you practice if you do this for Hermione and make her stop nagging. And, you were complaining about being bored.”

Hermione nodded her head.

“Also you like chess,” said Harry.

“I love chess!” said Ron. “I see your point. Fine. I’ll give it a try.”

“That’s the fourth time this week he’s been persuaded to do it,” muttered Hermione. Then, louder - “so Harry, tell us about Duelling Club!”

“Well, I did one duel,” said Harry, “and it was against Tom Riddle - pompous Slytherin Head Boy.”

“Him,” said Hermione. “Oh, well, you can’t be too hard on-”

“I won,” said Harry.

Hermione blinked. 

“Against Riddle?” Ron asked. “Riddle who’s been scouted out by actual competitive duelling teams?”

“Wow, Harry!” Hermione gushed. “That’s great! I’m so proud of you!”

Harry smiled. He hadn’t known about Tom and the duelling teams. He’d have to bring it up next time he saw the Slytherin Head Boy. That was an achievement worth congratulating anyone on.

A wave of chatter swept the common room starting at the portrait hole. Harry turned to see what had caused such a reaction.

Tom Riddle himself.

Tucking his Head Boy pass into his pocket, Tom strode through the crowd until he had reached Harry. “Rematch,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Rematch

Tom wasn’t going to let anyone beat him. He had a reputation to maintain. Harry Potter didn’t get to change that. He wasn’t special.

Tom, holding his head high, left the club meeting, and went to the Gryffindor common room. Harry would probably be there. As Head Boy, Tom had a pass telling the portraits they were obligated to let him into any common room. The system had been set up in case of emergency, but why have power if you couldn’t abuse it?

He entered the room and slid the pass back into his pocket. His trousers were getting too small, and his finger got stuck in a hole in the bottom of the right pocket where he often shoved his hand. Damn growing. Damn poverty.

He looked through the crowd - why were Gryffindors so loud anyway - spotting Harry near the back of the room, near a redhead and the clever girl who always had her hand up in class. She was smiling, playing with a coil of her hair, and Harry was smiling back. Were they - together? He didn’t recall seeing them flocking to that teashop in Hogsmeade last February, or wandering around like lovestruck fools, but anyone good enough to duel Tom and win - even by a fluke - was too good for that.

The redhead was grinning at the girl. Granger? It was something like Granger. Blood was staining his cheeks red. Merlin, redheads should not be allowed in Gryffindor. The clashing shades of red ruined the aesthetic. It’d look fine in any other House colours, but Gryffindor red just looked wrong. Really, only people with darker complexions, like Harry and the clever Granger girl, could pull off the warm shade. But then, Gryffindor House didn’t seem to care much for aesthetic, none of the furniture matched. Even the cushions looked random.

He walked forward, stopping right in front of Harry. “Rematch,” he said.

“Sorry, what?” Harry blinked, looking at him with those pretty green eyes of his.

“I want a rematch,” Tom explained. “I… enjoyed duelling with you, and would like to do so again.”

“Oh,” said Harry. “Sure. When? Now, or-”

“Can you? Duel now?” Tom wasn’t sure how he’d expected this conversation to go. “If you can - I can if -”

“Yeah, okay,” said Harry. “Not right here, though, there isn’t enough space.”

“No,” said Tom quickly. “I - I know a place.”

“Oh, like a classroom we can use? That’d be great,” said Harry.

Tom nodded. “Empty, so things won’t get in the way.”

Tom led Harry out of the common room, not really sure what to say to such a person. He’d never dueled, or even interacted with, someone quite like Harry before.

“Here we are,” he announced, “the Room of Hidden Things. Don’t - don’t tell anyone about it, because we don’t want all manner of people using it for who knows what, but the room’ll be exactly what you want it to be.”

“Wow,” said Harry. “So… where’s the door?”

Tom flashed a smile. “Watch.”

He paced back and forth three times. A room to duel in. He needed a room to duel in.

The door appeared in front of him. “Here we are,” he said. 

“That’s so cool!” said Harry. “Oh, wow!”

The room had duelling practice dummies at the side, a first aid kit stocked with potions and enchanted bandages as well as some free of magical residue. The walls were padded, as was the floor.

“Ready?” asked Tom.

Harry nodded. “Ready.”

They bowed, and the duel started.

Tom started off on the offensive with a binding spell, which Harry redirected with a flick of his wand. Controlled. Precise. Perfect form.

Then a knee-reversing hex. Harry darted out of its way and fired off a leg-locker curse. Tom’s groin perked up in interest. He gritted his teeth and willed it to stop. Not this again. It had been a fluke. Right?

Tom flicked a tickling charm at Harry, which whizzed under Harry’s leg when he jumped. Quidditch sure made people strong if Harry could leap that high out of the way. 

Harry cast a sponge-knees curse, and Tom blocked it. Hadn’t he? His knees were weak. The curse hadn’t hit him, though. He would surely have noticed.

“Stupefy!” he called, but Harry, ever-nimble, dodged.

“Impedimenta!” shouted Harry.

Tom blocked it. “Protego!” Basic, but effective, and half the blood that should have been in his brain was elsewhere. A sigh escaped his lips. Merlin, Harry.

“Relashio!” Harry sprung forward, wand out as the spell flew towards Tom, fast and furious as an osprey diving for fish.

Tom bit his lip. He wouldn’t moan. He wouldn’t. Not here and not now. 

He turned to the side to avoid the spell and sent a revulsion jinx flying, which Harry easily dodged. Blood bloomed just inside Tom’s mouth. He’d bitten too hard. He swallowed and kept going. 

Another revulsion jinx came closer to its target. “Avis! Oppugno!” He sent a conjured flock towards Harry.

“Ornithollegra!” Harry repelled the birds. “Decipula! Oppugno!”

Using Tom’s own tactic against him, Harry sent the birds, now trapped inside a cage, hurtling towards Tom. “Bombarda!” Tom’s spell blasted the cage to pieces. The birds, now with no clear target, went to perch on the dummies at the side of the room.

“Stupefy!” cast Tom. Harry danced out of the way, barely escaping the beam of magic. 

“Stupefy!” called the Gryffindor, grinning. Tom cast a shield charm, moving it with his wand to catch and reflect Harry’s spellcasting. Every now and then he commanded it to open and let his own magic through.

It felt like dancing. Like a smooth routine nobody but they knew. Harry was a worthy opponent for Tom. He was as fast, as reactive, as strong. It was thrilling.

Tom’s erection pulsed, only getting worse each time he moved and brushed up against it. He shuddered, sweat dripping down his back. His robes must be stained by now. Harry’s brilliance was so very alluring. It was wonderful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~ivory


	4. Confrontation

Something was wrong with Tom. Harry narrowed his eyes, throwing up a shield to match the Slytherin’s. Every time Tom moved… was he wincing? Was he hurt?

Had Harry unknowingly injured him? It wasn’t a fair fight if one of them had been at a physical disadvantage to start with. Had Tom been hurt in the beginning? When had this started?

But he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember, and - he dodged a nasty colored hex - clearly something was wrong. People didn’t just wince and - had Tom just moaned? - moan for no reason. There had to be a cause.

He jumped out of the way of another hex and sent a binding spell back. A gentle one - it wouldn’t be fair to exacerbate an injury someone else already had. ‘

No, there had to be something wrong. Especially since this was Tom Riddle. Hermione was always complaining Riddle was uncrackable. He’d cracked, and uncrackable people weren’t supposed to do that.

“Got you!” said Tom, his voice strangely low, his cheeks flushed. He cleared his throat. “Got you!”

“Hmm?”

“Harry - I - your wand is stuck to the ceiling. I’ve won.”

Harry blinked at his hand. His wand wasn’t there. He looked up and sure enough, there it was.

Tom didn’t look as triumphant as he should have. He was a Slytherin, and weren’t they supposed to be boastful? Harry’s longtime rivals, the Malfoy cousins, were downright arrogant. Hermione said Tom was, too - but if that was true…

Either there was something wrong with Tom, or Hermione was wrong about Tom Riddle.

“Hey… can we talk?” Harry chewed on his lip.

“What about?” asked Tom.

Harry squared his jaw. “You. You don’t look well.”

Tom reddened further. "I - I'm fine!" he squeaked. "I'm completely fine!"

Harry almost rolled his eyes. Instead, he reached up and brushed the back of his hand against the Slytherin's forehead. "You're not feverish," he mused.

Tom swatted his hand away. "Of course not! I just told you I'm fine!"

Harry rubbed his arm where Tom had hit it. "You don't look fine!"

"Well - well, I am!"

"I don't trust you."

"Whyever not?"

Harry shrugged. "Have you seen the color of your tie?"

Tom actually looked down to check. Looking back at Harry, he snapped, "have you seen the color of your eyes?"

Harry laughed. "Why are you looking at my eyes?"

Tom looked away. "I'm not!"

"Oh, you blasted - I know you aren't now, that's not - ugh! You are so annoying!"

"Me? Annoying? I'll have you know I'm quite charming."

Harry snorted. "Oh, I'm sure you are, when you aren't being obtuse. Clearly there's something wrong. Out with it!"

If it was possible for the Slytherin to turn even redder, he did.

Harry stepped as close as he could get to Tom without treading on his toes and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm not leaving until you spit it out, so."

Tom shuddered, eyes fluttering closed.

In a single, dizzying second, Harry realized.

And let go like he was holding a burning hot frying pan. "What the actual fuck!" he shouted.

"You have no idea what personal space is!" Tom yelled back.

"Do you get off on fighting?" Harry asked incredulously.

"What? No!" Tom sputtered. "At least I don't think so. Never - never before - um -"

"Hmm? What, exactly, is going on?"

"I-I-I-I'm wearing, uh, a  _ toy _ ."

Harry gaped. Sure, it was hot now he knew about it, but - "do you  _ realize _ how  _ inappropriate _ that is?"

Tom covered his face with his hands.

"I have no words!" Harry exclaimed. "You - you -" he paced in circles. Finally, he lifted his head and stared right at Tom. "You didn't wear it for me, did you? I can't think why else you would have come hunting me down."

Tom blinked. "Um-"

" _ Did you? _ "

Tom sat down. "Look - Harry - I - I lied."

Harry looked down at him. 

"I wasn't wearing - wearing anything like that. I just - I don't know - you're too good - so good, I mean - the way you duel me, you're actually a challenge, and we fit together, and…" Tom trailed off, so Harry picked it up.

"We do. I noticed that, too. And - I'm not going to lie - we Gryffindor's don't, you know -"

Tom ignored the jab.

"I think you're hot, and if you're interested in exploring this - I dunno what it is, fetish? Whatever. This thing if yours. If you're interested, I am. I'll do it with you." Harry spread his arms. "So…"

Tom swallowed. "You - you aren't unattractive yourself, Harry. That is to say - yes."

Harry looked up. "Yes?"

Tom nodded. "You're entertaining to talk to, you're pretty cute, I could fuck you. Let's give it a try, eh?"

"Sure." Harry liked that idea. Liked it very much. "How far d'you wanna go?"

"Friends with benefits. I don't date."

"And I don't fuck people I'm not dating more than once."

Tom scowled.

Harry held his gaze, green eyes boring into silver.

Tom sighed petulantly. "Fine. I'll give it a try if that's what it takes."

Harry grinned, amused. "I've got you on a hook, haven't I?"

"You've got my dick on a hook, Harry. The rest of me just so happens to be attached."

Harry threw back his head and laughed. "How fortunate for me. Now tell me, what made you want to duel me twice?"

Tom smirked. "I wasn't going to accept  _ losing _ to you, Harry. I don't lose against anyone."

Harry tossed his head, and smiled, a smug expression, he knew, but surely it was suitable here. "I'm not just anyone, though, am I?"

Tom laughed, his eyes sparkling. They made his face light up. "You've got that right. I think you may just be the one person worthy of my - attempt at dating - oh, speaking of that, next Hogsmeade weekend, you and I will… do something. I'll figure something out, or you will, I suppose, if you have an idea first - the only worthy opponent for me in this school, and certainly the only person worthy of my dick."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tom sure thinks highly of his penis.  
> So that's the end! Tell me what you thought, and thank you for reading!
> 
> ~ivory

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~ivory


End file.
